Greek consumers are struggling to adapt to a new reality; from the beginning of 2018, supermarkets have started charging customers for the use of plastic bags.

This was legislated at the end of 2017, in a move to conform with what is happening throughout the EU.

Plastic bags are gradually being pushed out of supermarkets for environmental reasons, though few EU countries have adopted the measure of charging customers for each bag.

At the moment, shoppers are asked to pay 4 cents for each plastic bag they use, while next year this will rise to 9 cents. This has led many in Greece to see the measure as purely revenue collecting, which in its turn urged the Institute for Retail and Consumer Goods Research to issue a 23-point guideline for consumers, explaining all aspects of the legislation.

The law exempts street kiosks and farmers’ markets from the measure, while in the meantime sees that all groceries are selling reusable bags, urging customers to choose this option and change their way of transporting groceries home.